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GDT: Flames @ Canes 1/13 7:00

Semin's best offensive plays seems to go hand in hand with his best defensive play. He's either full on, or full off.
 
JFG said:
As JamesN says, if he's still injured then he should be out of the lineup.
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Not if he can at a relatively high level and the correction involves surgery and significant time on the shelf. It's a weighted decision, not a one size fits all.
 
cmaleski2 said:
$9.25 million. Eric is getting paid $9.25 million this year.

The other forwards in the NHL $9 million club 2013-14 version?

Alex Ovechkin ($9 million)
Brad Richards ($9 million)
Sidney Crosby ($12 million)
Zac Parise ($12 million)

That's it folks. If you drop down below $9 million in salary and go all the way down to $7.5 million, you will see these forwards:

Steven Stamkos ($8 million)
Marian Hossa ($7.9 million)
Rick Nash ($7.8 million)
Mike Richards ($7.6 million)
Evgeni Malkin ($7.5 million)
Anze Kopitar ($7.5 million)
Marian Gaborik ($7.5 million)
Henrik Zetterberg ($7.5 million)

I'm sorry, but I will never feel bad criticizing Eric Staal's play considering how much he is paid relative to the other superstar forwards in this league. The bottom line is that Eric Staal is earning the 3rd highest salary in the NHL being paid to a forward this year, behind 2 players making $12 million per year.
Parise, who recently signed an insane front loaded contract is one of them...and come 2015-16 will be making less money than Eric Staal that season. The other (Crosby) is the best player in the world.

As much as I appreciate that Eric Staal is the best player on our team and has been for a long time, its pretty rare that you leave a game thinking 'Eric earned that $9.25 million salary tonight!' The salary numbers don't lie....Eric Staal is not even close to being the 3rd best forward in the NHL...yet he's being paid as such.
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Reading this made me throw up in my mouth a little. Third highest paid forward? Wow! I hate to lay it all at his feet, but when was the last time Staal was good enough that you felt he earned his salary that night???? Yea, I can't remember either. He's making $110k per GAME and he spend half the time pouting or in the penalty box.

You read that list, and most of those guys don't go a shift or two without being noticeable in some way, but Eric can go entire games and be completely invisible, particularly this year. Is it lingering effects from the knee? John and Tripp mentioned some nagging injury before he was hurt recently, is that still around? We were on a 5 game win streak, why rush him back. . .

How many times have we seen a team with a lot of call-ups (ie, guys trying to prove themselves) go on a tear, then 2-3 injured regulars come back and the team sucks? Remember 2008 (in think) where a team of mostly AHL players had gone on a tear and if we won our last game of the season, we were in the playoffs. Instead of dancing with the ones that brough you, we get 2 or three "top" players back from injury and Laviolette throws them in there and we lose to the crappy Panthers to miss the playoffs.

Why not ease things in, or as others have said, put the three returning players as a line.

T
 
Not that there is much to read into this, but Chip is reporting that Tlusty-Eric-Semin are practicing as a line today. Also Ryan Murphy is 'filling in' for Dwyer on the the Gerbe-Jordan line (I don't expect Muller is really going to consider that as a real option and this is just a temporary thing so they have 4 forward lines in practice). Skinner-Lindholm-Ruutu is another line... which leaves Nash-Malhotra-Dvorak? I was assuming that Dwyer and Bowman would be back for the Saturday game. I guess if that turns out not to be the case they can put one of them on IR and recall Boychuk on Saturday via an emergency callup.
 
dwind said:
Tlooosty, staal and semin make a fine 4th line.
Give them about 5 minutes.
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Wow. Would that not make for some interesting player close-up shots on the bench.

Put 'em out as the "energy line" and see if they care to earn any more ice time that game...or any at all in the third when the bench tends to get sawed off.

Never happen...but was fun just to think about it.
 
I think they should be made to earn ice time. Again, start them on 4th.
Give more time to mannys line.
 
I believe there were just some practice things going on today that aren't going to hold up for the game day line-up.

Today's Canes org article has the coach projecting that he's going to open with these lines:

Tlusty / E.Staal / Semin
Gerbe / J.Staal / Dwyer
Skinner / Lindholm / Ruutu
Bowman / Malhotra / Dvorak
 
The fact that Bowman is still here ahead of Boychuk or Sutter, must be 100% contract/waiver status related. Otherwise it makes no sense.
 
Bowman is the only one on a one way contract. But he's turned himself into a decent defensive forward, something Boychuk never showed until this season. Sutter is useless unless he's centering the 4th line.
 
I have ragged on Boychuk for so long and been such a supporter with high expectations for Bowman for so long that I can hardly believe I am doing this, but the tale of the tape confirms what the eyes see on the ice.

Boychuk 2.0 > Bowman 1.0

Disparity in GP as Bowman has forty-two to Boychuk's must-be-less-than-10 nine games played this season. But nine is enough of a sample size for some stat comparisons on a per game basis.

Takeaways/game:

Bowman: 0.26
Boychuk: 0.44

Shots/game:

Bowman: 1.26
Boychuk: 1.67

Hits/game

Bowman: 0.69
Boychuk: 1.56

Plus, the old standbys of shooting percentage and plus/minus are already game-averaged.

Shooting percentage:

Bowman: 5.7%
Boychuk: 6.7%

Plus/minus:

Bowman: -5
Boychuk: +2

Bowman was a feared and talented sniper in the WHL, but that offensive firepower has just not translated to the NHL. He's only just now begun to grow enough into a Skeletor frame to be even remotely physical, but the stats above show he's not hitting at anything like one would hope for a fourth-liner...not that Boychuk is any much better. Neither are really what one wants on the fourth line and Skinner is holding Boychuk off the third.

That's been my observation all along. Boychuk's not defensive minded enough to play with Jordan, Skinner holds down the LW slot on the third, so fourth line was all that was there by default.

However, it's only now that Muller is beginning (when all are healthy) to roll four lines. And that makes things very, very different.

Suddenly your fourth line can be a scoring line, too. Momentum-shifting energy line, for sure. Yes, lots of defensive zone faceoffs and individual members do PK duty, so two of you have to be pretty good PK'ers. Bowman (0:10 SH TOI/game), Boychuk (0:00 SH TOI/game), you two are excused.

So, until we find a fourth-line LW that brings a bit more Ooomph! and Score! to this line, if I had to choose between the two, it's going to be the new-and-improved Boychuk 2.0, now with more...well, more.

There...I said it.

But, of course...vague wave of the hand...there's that waiver thing. So, bottom line, Bowman would have to get bundled in some outbound package to make a season-long commitment to Boychuk at this point. Because he's not going to clear waivers this season, either. Someone will give him a third line role.
 
Boychuk had really good chemistry with Malhotra. I was impressed with his 9 games....which is the 1st time I've ever said that about him. I've disliked him since the day he was drafted! But I'd prefer him over Bowman.
 
If you're going to bring up Boychuk you have to commit for the rest of the year or risk losing him. How about sitting Dvorak for a few games? He hasn't had a point since 12/3 and hasn't scored a goal since 11/7.
 
Boychuk's left shot not interchangeable with Dvorak's right shot, plus Dvorak does lots of good subtle things like (please pay attention forwards) making himself available for short outlet passes instead of breaking long for the end zone *cough*[insert usual suspects here]*cough* resulting in a neutral zone turnover.

Which is why he's one of the elite Gang of Nine on the Canes roster that actually possess a positive +/- on the Canes roster. Very useful role player for both his linemates and overall puck possession team strategy.

But, having said that, could we do better for a fourth line right winger? Absolutely.
 
Per Chip both Dwyer and Bowman have returned to practice. Based on what Chip is reporting, sounds like Riley Nash could be the odd man out on Saturday.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Per Chip both Dwyer and Bowman have returned to practice. Based on what Chip is reporting, sounds like Riley Nash could be the odd man out on Saturday.
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Good. I have failed to see what they see in this guy from day one. He does nothing well, he just happens to play center and that's why we have kept him? He doesn't hit, has less creativity than anyone on the team save maybe Bowman, and doesn't score. I would much rather see some of the call-ups we've had recently (Sutter, that other guy I had never heard of before they called him up, Boychuck) over nash any day.

Is it another waiver/contract situation or something? If so, I would let him go on waivers, sheesh.

T
 
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